I have never been satisfied with standard hog bristle brushes that I could find in the local stores. I started with filberts and found these too delicate. Brights were too stiff and took off more paint than put on. Although brights are great for scrubbing in an under painting. Finally I settled on long flats but was never really happy with how they mixed paint and wore so quickly.

I came across a company in the UK called Rosemary & Company through various painting DVD’s. After some research and looking through their online catalogue I decided to order a variety of brushes and try them out.

In the batch I ordered some Ivory branded brushes as their site mentioned these sold 10 to 1 over hog bristle brushes.

The result… wow! The long flats are amazing. Stiff but springy and the tips hold a tight and controlled edge all the time. I enjoy using them so much I have painted three paintings in three days. I cannot recommend them enough.

I also ordered long flats in Chungking Bristle (hog bristle) brushes and some Mongoose brushes, the ones used by Richard Schmid, Morgan Weistling and Jeremy Lipking.

The Chungking brushes are better than any hog bristle brush I can get locally but no where near as good as the Ivory brushes. See images below.

Chungking Long Flats

Chungking Long Flat Bend

Chungking Long Flat Edge

I have yet to use the Mongoose brushes but plan to soon so I can get the feel of them. They have to be the most delicate oil brush I have seen. Obviously, in the right hands these brushes are amazing. We’ll see if I have the “right hands.

Mongoose Long Flats

Mongoose Long Flat Bend

Mongoose Long Flat Edge

On top of the great brushes Rosemary & Co. also have fantastic customer service direct from Rosemary herself.

Meadow Glow :: 12x24

This painting came together rather quickly as I aimed at simplifying the shapes of the trees and bushes. The best part was laying in the thick impasto stroke of the cadmium yellow for the glowing yellow grasses. The reference came from my travels in France back in July of 2010 although the mountains were added to give more depth.

Glowing Meadow :: 12×24″ :: Oil on Canvas :: $850 Framed

Volume three of “Artists of British Columbia“, published by Leighon Studio Gallery,  is out and can be purchased at a variety of stores in BC for $20.

I am featured on page 54 of the book with my painting “Coastal Breeze“. In fact, the publisher loved the painting so much, they featured it on the cover. Ah, another feather in the cap, as they say.

I painted Coastal Breeze on mahogany panel using Gamblin oil paints. I have been using Gamblin since I started with oil painting and find them very smooth with a high concentration of pigment.

If you can, pick up a copy of the book and support the local artists whenever you can.

I do not do portraits often but I am finding them more enjoyable each time. If you are interested in a commission, send me an email to discuss the opportunity.

11×20″ :: Oil on Board :: Unavailable

Close up:

I have been looking for drawing casts for about 6 months now. Local stores do not carry them and only a couple of online stores in the US do. Needless to say, plaster drawing casts are not easy items to come by.

I was considering casting my own hands, feet and facial features some how but determined it was too much effort. :)

I then put the word out to a few people I know and later in the day an emailed pop up mentioning that a certain group used to have a bunch of them for teaching drawing classes. I contacted the group and it turns out they were looking to sell them off, so myself and another artists bought the entire lot.

I took home a foot, a skull, an eye, a nose and a mouth along with the pièce de résistance – a 27″ male figure! One arm is missing and the other was broken in two places. Some crazy glue and stiff acrylic molding paste did the job of fixing it. A few coats of gesso on all the casts made them as good as new.

I’ll be using them to expand my drawing and value capabilities as well as for a few workshops I am giving.

Next up… a new painting.

This is a recent painting from one of my many reference photos from France back in 2010. We were staying in Bourges, France at Hôtel d’Angleterre.

It was such a beautiful day with the sun streaming in and making everything glow.

11×14″ :: Oil on Board :: $400 Unframed

I am participating in the 2011 Langley Art Studio Tour this year. It ran last weekend on September 24th and 25th and will be on again this coming weekend of October 1st and 2nd from 10am to 5pm.

I am at location number 7, at the Windsong Community at 20543 – 96th Avenue, with five other artists Lalita Hamill, Ken Nash, Gabrielle Greig, Becky McMahon and photographer Rick Rozdeba. There are seventeen studio stops this year and you can get the PDF of the destinations here >> Studio Destinations PDF

This previous weekend was a lot of fun with approximately 100 people coming through. I spent my time divided between painting and talking to those that came through.

The first photo is of me focused on my painting and in the second photo you can see what I was working on while talking to Rick. Over the two days I was able to complete the full block in. I hope to complete most of it this week and will be starting a new piece next weekend. I will bring this one with me for those interested in seeing the near completed painting.
See you next weekend if you come through.

Of course, I took a direction that I find more interesting that just a plain representation of myself. Portraits are too boring otherwise. :)

8×8" :: Oil on Board :: NFS

The "65 Red Roses" mural project I worked on back in 2010 has found a home at the BC Children's' Hospital. It is a fitting location for the mural as it is the place many kids in BC with cystic fibrosis spend their time. The unveiling will be on May 11th, 2011 at 4pm in the main lobby of the hospital.

The mural was painted by members of the Federation of Canadian Artists to honour Eva Markvoort and to provide a fundraising opportunity for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. To date, the foundation has raised over $18,000 just through the 65 Red Roses print sales.

It was a privilege to be a part of such a great project. Below was my contribution to the mural.

Urban Posture has been accepted into the Abstract show at the Federation of Canadian Artists, on Granville Island, from May 5th to 17th.  It will be hanging along with 73 other paintings so if you enjoy abstract art, this would be a great show for you to take in.

Urban Posture :: 20×20" :: Oil on Canvas :: $1200 Framed